advertisement


Loudspeakers You Wish To Try But Probably Won't Own In This Lifetime

I don’t see the point in the multi driver arrays or what advantage they bring? Surely it makes for a very complex crossover & lots of unnecessary wiring, the height is also utterly ridiculous.
 
It’s to justify the price. I mean, you can see where the money’s gone.

By contrast there’s a review of some Burmester speakers in the current issue of HiFi Plus; fairly ordinary-looking oblong boxes, not that large. The price? Just short of a hundred thousand of your English pounds.
 
With arrays you can get higher sensitivity and increased scale.

I would like to listen some big driver speakers in open space environment, loud and without distortion.
 
I respect PMC speakers and I understand why many people love them.

I dislike how PMC market the transmission line (TL) thing. It's fair to say they're not true TLs i.e for bass roll-off and transient response. The theory is a true TL acts like a sealed box, but in practice I don't know of any speaker sold as a TL like that.

IB1S FR has extended bass. But it drops off quickly, not like a sealed box - you can see the sealed, tiny SCM7 even puts out more at 20Hz.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/pmc-ib-1s-loudspeaker-measurements
https://www.stereophile.com/content/atv-scm7-v3-loudspeaker-measurements

From the other end of the stick, your active ATCs act better than a typical ported reflex. Like some Tannoys, the roll-off and transient response is between classic reflex and sealed box.

Of course you could demo, enjoy, prefer etc. PMCs for other reasons.
I agree about the PMC marketing. Actually the bass alignment they brand as ATL, or at least something effectively similar, is used by other manufacturers. You can see this if you look at Stereophile's tests and see that it's not only PMC where the port output is broadband as depicted in the section on PMC of Newell and Holland's loudspeakers book.

Actually the reason I wish to try the PMCs is more intellectual curiosity than any intention to buy. That PMC's ATL is really a port with a particular tuning looks right to me. I have read a lot of generalizations about reflex ports that don't always correspond to what I hear. Although I have now retired I refuse to turn off my brain and getting a better understanding of loudspeakers has been a "project".

And yes, re ATCs. There are something like five orthodox ways of solving the reflex port equation and they can differ quite a lot. That's one of the reasons I think the generalizations aren't universally true. However there are lots of people here with real experience of loudspeaker building and I'm wary I might be writing rubbish.
 
O I don’t know, it think I wouldn’t mind looking at these in this room on a daily basis
1-B0877-A6-E96-D-4-AE9-9684-62-CE5-DB608-FE.png
D8-C94-B86-7114-47-D3-8113-82007-E8-A407-B.png
Just goes to show that having boatloads of money doesn’t endow you with taste, or class.
 
I agree about the PMC marketing. Actually the bass alignment they brand as ATL, or at least something effectively similar, is used by other manufacturers. ...
PMC impedance measurements that I have seen, show the double hump of a reflex port, so I assume that they are actually resistive loaded reflex, like TDL RTLs were. Truer TLs have a fairly flat and single humped curve. My TDL T-Line 3s have this.
 
I agree. Good speakers can be expensive but don’t have to be gigantic and ugly.

Yes but have you heard something like the Wilson Alexa's? They are big and kinda ugly but sound incredible. Completely different experience to an ESL. Of course one would want to be blown away given the price difference.
 
No I haven’t. For that kind of price I can go to concerts twice a day till the end of my life.
Well, once a week will do!
I could accommodate them at home if someone gave me a pair though. :p
 
I don’t see the point in the multi driver arrays or what advantage they bring? Surely it makes for a very complex crossover & lots of unnecessary wiring, the height is also utterly ridiculous.

The advantage, as far as I know, is constant directivity. If narrow then you increase the direct/reflected sound ratio. In other words you listen to more of the recorded signal and less to the room.
 
I agree about the PMC marketing. Actually the bass alignment they brand as ATL, or at least something effectively similar, is used by other manufacturers. You can see this if you look at Stereophile's tests and see that it's not only PMC where the port output is broadband as depicted in the section on PMC of Newell and Holland's loudspeakers book.

Actually the reason I wish to try the PMCs is more intellectual curiosity than any intention to buy. That PMC's ATL is really a port with a particular tuning looks right to me. I have read a lot of generalizations about reflex ports that don't always correspond to what I hear. Although I have now retired I refuse to turn off my brain and getting a better understanding of loudspeakers has been a "project".

And yes, re ATCs. There are something like five orthodox ways of solving the reflex port equation and they can differ quite a lot. That's one of the reasons I think the generalizations aren't universally true. However there are lots of people here with real experience of loudspeaker building and I'm wary I might be writing rubbish.

I could be wrong but won't using TL as an alternative to a BR port result in a huge increase in group delay at the resonant frequency?
 
I have no idea. Something where my whole family of four can enjoy the same experience. That rules out anything too directional. Tried omni and they spray too much against the walls of my small room. Next thing up is line array with restricted vertical dispersion but super horizontal loveliness.

Musical appreciation is something that should always be done with others not on your own with your head in a vice.
I’m with you on that… I actually only have my daughter with me, and she’s a music lover but not much of a social listener as myself, she has her own system, and headphones and tends to listen alone… I however am a social listener, I’ve friends and family outside of my household who are music lovers, and we quite regularly have get togethers where we take turns picking an album, a system we can all enjoy at the same time is definitely a plus. My main system is good at that, you lose the pin point imaging if you’re sat off to the side, but it still sounds tonally even and entertaining. Further to that, my main system (well both systems) are also used for TV/movie sound so a good off axis response is pretty important.
 
Infinity IRS for me. Knocked me out the only time I heard them...Basically I will need a mansion just to house them! Love to try and hear big MBLs again, I didn't realise what I was listening to the first time I encountered them so I let the looks put me off and didn't stick around.
 
As ever with this sort of thing it all comes down to taste/context, and I’ve never personally liked huge systems in huge rooms as everything I’ve heard just sounds like a PA system to some degree.

Yes..... and I kinda like it like that.... my ears/brain interpret that as a 'live' sound - a musical event being recreated in my lounge.... whereas mini monitors sound slightly too controlled and 'small'
 


advertisement


Back
Top